


Like a Heartbeat Under Your Shirt

by Noducksinpond



Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - No Pennywise (IT), Canon Typical Violence, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Flashbacks, M/M, Period-Typical Homophobia, Pining, Weddings, but i wanted to warn you about the bits of angst in advance, this fic is mostly fluff and pining
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-30
Updated: 2019-12-25
Packaged: 2020-11-08 08:48:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,363
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20832680
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Noducksinpond/pseuds/Noducksinpond
Summary: "Not that Richie was entertaining the idea of actually asking Eddie, he’d just go alone and spend the entire week in a pool float with a cocktail in his hand."[Or Richie decides to bring a guy as his date to his sister's wedding in Hawaii to annoy his sister's future horrible in-laws as much as possible. Somehow Eddie gets roped into this plan. It goes about as well, as you'd expect.]





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Look, it's a cure to my writer's block! I had a realization, that I have never written a fake dating at a wedding au despite the fact that it's a trope I _love_, and somehow this came to me.  
The basics:  
1\. The losers are all in their mid-twenties, when this fic takes place.  
2\. While this fic is much fluffier and nicer than canon (because I'm not writing a horror movie/novel) there is at least one flashback in an upcoming chapter that warrants the tags - I'll warn you in the chapter notes, when it's relevant, so you can skip it, should you want to.

_Richie was the first of his friends to kiss a girl. Just in a game of spin the bottle, but he had still held bragging rights over Bill, Stan and Eddie for a good few weeks. It had kind of just been wet, and the thought had crossed his mind afterwards, that if Eddie ever kissed a girl, he’d freak out, because of all the spit and germs. Which maybe wasn’t the best first kiss story in the world. So that isn’t what he told his friends, just that it was fine, but that it would only be going up from here. Obviously._

_It’s later, years later as he is finishing high school, when Richie started putting all the dots together, that it was probably just one massive clue to the fact, that he’s gay. He expected that realization to be crushing, his hometown of Derry isn’t exactly a great place to be a dude who wants to have sex with other dudes on a regular basis. But it felt more like a relief. Like putting together a mystery at the end of an episode of the cop show, his mom was always watching._

_It meant a lot of the teenage hormones through high school made sense. That he, unlike Bill, wasn’t practically falling over in excitement, because Beverly, the one girl they were friends with, was pretty. That he made out with girls at parties in senior year, and his brain was drifting off, like he wasn’t currently sucking face with someone. _

_That he’d get caught staring at Eddie, with his brown hair and dark eyes, and Eddie would scowl at him, and ask “what?” all irritated and completely wound up, as he always seemed to be, and Richie would immediately wish he’d never looked. And that he would struggle to come up with a joke as a defense. But inevitably go back to casting glances at him later. It meant he’d think back to things Eddie had said, comebacks to jokes Richie had fired off, everything. _

_More than anything, that’s the crushing thing. That the target of his bullshit hormones is Eddie Kaspbrak, his best friend, a boy he’d known his entire life. The kind of guy, who rolled his eyes at everything he said, said just as many biting jokes as he did, and who always seemed vaguely annoyed with everything Richie did. Because as much as they were friends, best friends, and Richie knew this, Eddie wasn’t stumbling over his words around Richie or sneaking long looks at him. _

* * *

“Stan…” Richie started, looking just over the edge of the beer glass, aiming for overly sweet. This of course, immediately made Stan roll his eyes. Ben and Beverly, who were also sitting at the small bar table, in between Richie and Stan, looked between the two of them, like they were interested to see where this would go.

“No.” Stan said pointedly, in the same way, he always shot down whatever ideas Richie had. Really, he should be used to Stanley killing his dreams by now.

“Come on, Stanley, light of my life-“ Richie continued.

“Fuck you, I said no,” he repeated.

“I thought you liked David,” Ben budded in, clearly trying to avoid Richie and Stan bickering for the rest of the night. Which wouldn’t exactly be unusual for them.

Richie’s sister Carrie was getting married to her high school sweetheart David. They had been dating seven years, and wedding bells had seemingly been in the air for the last two. David was fine, a really nice guy, and he could even keep up with the Tozier siblings’ jokes on a good day.

David was not the problem – or in a way David was the problem, because his one personality flaw was that he was a Momma’s boy, and his mom was an evil bitch from hell. “Not David that is the problem, Benny. His mom is a snobby, conservative hag, who is dragging three hundred people to Hawaii for their wedding, because she wants to spoil her little baby boy,” Richie said with a sip of the beer.

Richie’s parents had always been decently well off, or at least well off considering it was Derry. But David’s family was a whole other level, there was the obnoxious hag, and then the spacy to say the least father, who practically acted like a clichéd rich dude, who would probably have an affair with any attractive woman, who wasn’t his wife, if he could. Needless to say, Richie, the broke and gay, up and coming stand up comedian, hadn’t exactly been popular the few times, he’d been forced to be in the same room, as his sisters’ future in laws.

Carrie wasn’t even the type to care, if her wedding was big and fancy, David and her would have a smaller ceremony at City hall, before they even fucking left for Hawaii. But David was spineless, when it came to his mama, so they were Hawaii bound in 3 months. At least Richie’s dad had offered to pay for Richie’s plane ticket and hotel room.

“I mean, it’s not like they’re going to be any less insufferable, just because you bring a date,” Beverly said, still clearly trying to shoot down Richie’s earlier idea. Ben got up to get himself and Beverly another drink.

“Not the point, Bev,” Richie said. “Carrie doesn’t give a shit if I bring a guy, but the old hag would be so scandalized, it’d probably ruin her entire week, maybe even month if I play it right.”

“I know you said Carrie doesn’t really care about the whole Hawaii thing, but is nice, polite young man who does puzzles in his spare time, really the right vibe for your scandalous boyfriend?” Beverly argued, Stan shot her a look, and Beverly held her hands up in surrender. “Not saying that is a bad thing Stanley, relax. It’s just if we’re entertaining this idea…” she trailed off.

“Also, Carrie has met Patricia, and we’re in a committed relationship and very happy,” Stanley retorted.

“Buzzkill,” Richie said with a deep sigh, and took a sip of the beer. “But maybe you’re right. Bev, you have a tattoo, you wanna come along? Maybe I did find the right woman, like the hag told me I would.”

“Again, in a committed relationship and very happy,” Ben said, as he rejoined them at the table. He set Beverly’s drink down, and she gave him a warm smile. “And are you sure this is a good idea, Richie? I know they’re bigoted assholes, but is it really worth it, trying to ruin your sister’s wedding?”

“I appreciate your diplomacy, Ben. But nobody I actually like, gives a shit about the whole Hawaii shindig. For Carrie, it’s just a very expensive vacation,” Richie paused. “You know the whole, we already got married with the people that matter present, so if we can’t talk them out of it, what the hell, kind of thing.”

“Well, both Bill and Mike would say never, if you asked them,” Beverly said. “So, that pretty much leaves you one other option, if you’re not going to like make an ad on Craigslist, or something. If you still think this is a good idea, I mean.”

“Oh yeah right, Ben will you be my date on a week long vacation to Hawaii?” Richie asked, which coursed both Beverly and Stan to roll their eyes. It wasn’t that Richie didn’t know, that wasn’t what Beverly meant. He just really didn’t want to think about, what he was pretty sure, she was actually talking about.

“Ah, ah, ah, that was not what I meant,” Beverly cut in, but maybe she just cut in, because her boyfriend was so nice, he’d have trouble saying no. “If you really wanna ask a friend to go be your fake boyfriend in Hawaii, you could ask Eddie?”

“I have other friends than you guys, you know?” Richie said.

“And yet, you haven’t suggested any of them,” Stanley retorted. Richie resisted the urge to stick his tongue out at Stanley, because he was 25, not 5. He’d never actually really told his friends about the Eddie thing, when it used to be a thing, but he was pretty sure at least Stanley was perceptive enough to get it.

“It’d be a waste of time to ask Eddie. Because he’s going to say no, we don’t talk as much as we used, he’ll rattle off some statistics about plane crashes and tropical diseases, and then Myra will probably yell at him, that he shouldn’t be on the phone so much, because of radiation,” Richie said, emptying the beer glass.

It wasn’t necessarily that Richie didn’t want to hang out with Eddie, even if he’d grown out of having a crush on him, but Eddie had moved to the opposite end of the country, so really, it was what happened. His only friends in close proximity was Stan, Beverly and Ben. It was just how life went.

And Eddie had realized he liked guys as well as girls in college, so he’d be a somewhat believable fake boyfriend, but even if Eddie didn’t say no, Myra, his current on and off girlfriend, who Eddie had kept getting himself stuck with, over the last three years, would definitely scream no. At least, if Stanley hadn’t been a complete buzzkill, Patricia would have probably gone along with it. Not that Richie was entertaining the idea of actually asking Eddie, he’d just go alone and spend the entire week in a pool float with a cocktail in his hand.

“You could ask him,” Beverly said, in a tone that sounded softer and less joking, which worried Richie a little bit. He squirmed in his seat and wished he hadn’t had the last of his drink. “Besides, Bill told me, he was thinking of ditching Myra for good, so he could probably use the vacation.”

* * *

_“I figured, I could tell you, because you know,” Eddie said, fiddling nervously with his hands. Eddie had uncharacteristically decided to sit down on the beat up couch in Richie’s dorm. Richie had initially scared him off it, by telling him he’d found it in a dumpster, which he’d gotten a five minute long lecture from Eddie about. But to be fair, right now it was a pretty clear give away, that this wasn’t easy for Eddie._

_“Because, I like sucking dick?” Richie said, trying to cheer up Eddie. Or at the very least make him less nervous. It worked seemingly because Eddie rolled his eyes, and his hands stopped fidgeting. _

_“I was gonna say, because you’re gay, but sure if you wanna go with that,” Eddie retorted. He drew in a deep breath. Richie studied his face. It was a surprise sure, and if Richie had still been 17 and an idiot, it might have given him some sort of hope, when it came to his stupid crush on Eddie. But he wasn’t, and he’d moved on. So instead he just focused on Eddie. “If I was still talking to my mom, she’d lose her shit.”_

_“Well, to be fair, I’m pretty sure Mrs K would take laxatives, so that wouldn’t surprise me,” Richie said, making, thank god, Eddie laugh. If only, a small, quiet laugh that almost sounded watery. “It’s fine you know, being bisexual, or liking both, if you wanna call it that. And if our friends are cool with me, there’s no reason, they wouldn’t be cool with you.”_

_“Yeah, I know,” Eddie said with a pause, and he wasn’t looking at Richie. “It’s just… terrifying. And I thought, it’d be easier to tell you first. Not just because- but just because you’re my best friend. You know?”_

_“I know, Eds,” Richie said, and that felt too genuine and sappy, so he continued: “And also I am so wise, and clever and approachable, so of course, you’d wanna tell me. I’m practically a school guidance counselor”_

_“You’re none of those things, what you are, is annoying,” Eddie said, but there was no real punch to the words, and he was smiling. “And don’t call me, Eds.”_


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the positive feedback on this. I didn't think, I'd be updating this so soon, but I'm gonna be swamped with work all of next week, and this chapter was already done, so why not

Stanley must have thrown Patricia’s home quilted blanket over Richie at some point in the night, after Richie had all but wiped out. Richie sat up with a small groan, the couch in Stan and his girlfriend Pat’s tiny apartment, was entirely too small to accommodate how tall he was. “You want coffee, Richie?” he heard Patricia ask from the kitchen.

It wasn’t unusual, that Patricia would go out with them, but according to Stan, she’d had a long day of work the day before, and had decided to call it an early night, as soon as she’d done some work on her crafts project. Luckily Stan and Richie could take advantage of that, as Pat was the only one, who hadn’t had any alcohol the night before.

“You’re a saint, an angel among mortals,” Richie announced, and he heard her giggle to herself through the open door. Richie had ended up crashing at Stanley’s the night before, as they had been heading back from the bar. He rubbed his temples, he hadn’t gotten too drunk the night before, but he definitely still had a distinct hangover.

“Thought that was me,” Stan announced, from where he stood in the doorway to the bedroom. Stanley was wearing a faded hoodie from his college, sweats, and glasses. He looked like he couldn’t have been awake for much more than a half hour, which meant he was probably grumpy, or more grumpy than usual. It took Richie a moment to remember what Stan meant.

“No, I said, you were the light of my life, Pat is the angel and the saint around here,” Richie said, hearing the coffee machine brewing in the kitchen. “Besides, I might take that back considering how unhelpful, you were last night.”

“What did you do, darling?” Patricia asked, as she headed into the living room, giving Richie a mug of coffee that he accepted gratefully. Patricia Blum looked like just as much of a grandma, as Stan could sometimes look like a granddad. She was wearing a well-worn knitted sweater, and a cardigan on top. If she’d been wearing a skirt instead of leggings, the grandma effect would have reached its full potential. Richie had once told them, they were like the grandparents he never had, which had gotten Pat to laugh and Stan to shove him.

“Refused to be Richie’s scandalous boy toy to his sister’s destination wedding in Hawaii,” Stan said matter of factly. He accepted the other mug of coffee, Patricia was carrying, and she stood to her toes to kiss him on the cheek, instantly making Stan smile. Richie cooed, because he couldn’t help himself, and Stan rolled his eyes.

“Well, I wasn’t thinking boy toy, just fake date, but sure if that’s what you want, Stan the Man-“ Richie trailed off.

“Darling, you really said no to a vacation in Hawaii, just because you can’t pretend to not want to strangle Richard for five minutes?” Patricia asked.

“To be fair, I might want my boy toy to choke-“ he interjected.

“Beep, beep Richie!” Stan cut him off. Pat and Stan shared a look between them, that made Richie feel out of place in the room. One that practically radiated affection off of it. Normally, Richie really didn’t mind. It was nice to see his friends really happy together, even if it made him feel like the odd one out. “Besides honey, it doesn’t matter. Because Richie is going to ask Eddie.”

“Well, that sounds like a good idea, if you want to drag someone along as your plus one to Hawaii,” Patricia said, making Richie give her a confused look.

“Why? I never agreed to ask, and I’m not gonna, but why, just wondering?” Richie asked. Stanley gave him some kind of look, that Richie couldn’t properly decipher.

“Well, last time Eddie was in town, you two seemed to get along really well, so it’s believable enough. Eddie is nice and proper, but not overly so, he can still pick a fight or put up an attitude to someone, like Helen you told me about,” Patricia explained. Richie was reminded he’d already told her about his woes with the Hawaii thing, last time all of them were together. “So, really if you want a scandalous date to Hawaii, it would be an okay idea, I think.”

“Have I told you yet, that you’re wise beyond your years, and truly an angel among mortals?” Richie asked.

“It’s come up,” she said with a grin.

“You listen to her, but not to me,” Stan said with a swig of his coffee. Impressively so, considering unlike Richie’s coffee, Stanley’s was all black, and definitely still hot. Richie took plenty of milk and chocolate syrup in his, chocolate syrup that Pat was nice enough to keep around just for his sake. “And does this mean, you’ll ask him?”

“No, it doesn’t, and it just means that your lovely lady love, makes a better case than ‘Eddie will probably need a vacation,’” Richie fired back. Stanley and Patricia shared a look again, but this one was more like a knowing look. Like they had figured out something, Richie hadn’t. “And I’m still not gonna ask.”

* * *

Richie wasn’t going to ask Eddie. He wasn’t. He’d already made his mind up about that last week, and just because Bev and Stan had both bothered him with it since, and even gotten Mike to text him about it, didn’t mean Richie was going to do it. No way, Jose. No matter how much his friends seemed to have ganged up on him.

It wasn’t that it would be weird, it wouldn’t. There weren’t any lingering romantic feelings left there, and Eddie would probably still be wrapped up in all the Myra shit, and probably pissy and grumpy the entire trip. That wasn’t the reason, Richie wasn’t going to ask. He wasn’t going to ask, because, like he’d explained to Bev, Ben and Stan, Eddie would say no. He’d call him, ask, and then have to listen to all kinds of statistics about how Richie’s death was practically inevitable, if he as much as thought about setting foot in Hawaii. That was why, he wasn’t going to ask.

But on the other hand, an annoying little voice in the back of Richie’s mind reminded him, if Eddie was no doubt going to say no, there was no harm done in asking. At least, it would get the others off his case. He picked up his phone, and pressed Eddie’s contact, before he could convince himself, that there was absolutely harm done in asking him. The phone rang a couple of rings, and Richie was about to cancel the call.

_“Eddie Kaspbrak, speaking,”_ he heard on the other end of the line. That never seemed to change, and it kind of made Richie smile.

“Spaghetti man!” Richie blurted without really thinking. He hadn’t called Eddie that in years, mostly because Eddie got furious every single time, and as much as Richie usually didn’t mind, he did have his limits. Maybe just because he was kind of surprised, Eddie had actually picked up the phone, considering it had to be kind of late for him at least.

_“Oh my god,”_ Eddie replied with a groan, clearly already annoyed. _“You better have a good reason for calling, or I will hang up and block you.”_

“Promise, it’s all uphill from here,” Richie said, and Eddie gratefully didn’t hang up. “How are you doing?”

_“Staying at Bill’s currently,” _Eddie replied, and Richie might have frowned. Maybe Beverly had actually been onto something, when she said Eddie was looking to ditch Myra for good. _“Because I let Myra keep the apartment, and we’re actually done this time.”_

“Atta boy,” he replied, and he thought he heard what sounded like a breath of a laugh on the other end of the line. But maybe he was just imagining that part. “Are you doing okay? Besides having to stay with Big Bill?”

_“Better than expected,”_ Eddie said, and it sounded like he drew a sigh of relief. _“It was a long time coming.”_

Richie barely, just barely, resisted the urge to reply _yeah, no shit_. But he was also aware, it wasn’t exactly a fair impulse. Living on opposite sides of the country, since they’d finished college meant Richie hadn’t gotten a front row seat to the Myra shit show, but he’d heard enough. Eddie had never been particularly outgoing, and had a lot of self esteem issues, and while he’d dated a guy in college briefly, he was never exactly sleeping around a lot. So, when Myra had pursued him, been overly sweet and showered him with affection, Eddie had been charmed.

But she was also an overbearing bitch, who was weirdly overprotective of Eddie, and just as extreme about Eddie’s health as Eddie used to be, before he managed to stop talking to his mother. But for some reason, Eddie kept coming back every single time Myra apologized. “I’m glad, Eddie honestly. But that was not why I called you. Or not the only reason anyway,” Richie explained.

_“Spit it out, Rich,”_ he replied, and Richie really hated that his hands felt like they were shaking.

“You know how Carrie is getting dragged off to a destination wedding in Hawaii by her shitty future in laws, because they just can’t imagine their little baby boy not having a big party?” Richie asked. He took a quick breath, as Eddie said an affirmative sound on the other end of the line. “Well, I- I- Jesus fucking Christ, they already hate my guts and Carrie doesn’t give a shit if I bring a guy, and maybe it’d annoy them more.”

_“Probably,”_ Eddie just said, which Richie had to admit wasn’t helpful.

“And since Carrie doesn’t care, and it’s basically one week of vacation in Hawaii where I get the chance to piss them off, I figured why not? So do you wanna go with me?” Richie asked, and god damn it, he’d explained this so much to Stan, Beverly and Ben at the bar last week. He should have thought about getting drunk before doing this.

_“What do you mean exactly?”_ Eddie asked, but the tone was suspicious, as if he was catching onto what Richie might mean.

“Do you wanna come with, and pretend to be my boyfriend to scandalize that old hag Helen?” Richie said, so quickly he was definitely stumbling over his words.

_“Richie!”_ Eddie practically hissed, and maybe the hag wasn’t the only one, who would be scandalized. Richie could practically already hear the inevitable no in Eddie’s tone. _“What the hell, that’s so inappropriate!”_

“Come on, Eddie,” Richie said, surprised by himself arguing this point at all. He hadn’t wanted to ask Eddie at all, so why was he doing it, or even just trying to convince Eddie. “You’d like barely need to do anything, I just wanna ruin her week. It’d be one long vacation to Hawaii, where you get to piss off a bigoted evil bitch as a bonus.”

_“That is so unfair to your sister,”_ Eddie argued. _“Plus, what is everyone else going to think?”_

“Carrie and David are getting married in a small ceremony beforehand, they’re literally just going to appease the old hag,” Richie explained. “Plus, nobody there likes me that much, besides maybe Carrie, David and their friends. There’s at least 175 people, I have never met and will never meet again.”

_“I don’t blame them,”_ Eddie retorted, and made Richie snort.

“Eduardo, can you just do me a solid?” Richie asked, and he hated that he sounded so pleading. But the more he thought about it, the more fun it actually seemed to hang out with Eddie for a week. Even if it was just because of the wedding. There was a definite downside to living on the opposite side of the country to your childhood best friend.

_“Will you stop calling me Eduardo, Spaghetti man, Eds and any variation of that?”_ Eddie asked. Richie frowned, that wasn’t where he’d expected this to go at all.

“Fuck, really? That’s all it took? I mean, I can’t make any promise-” he replied, knowing full well there was no way, he was ever going to follow through, if he made such a promise to Eddie. The temptation would be too great.

_“No, that’s not all it took. And I’m not saying yes,”_ Eddie clarified.

“But you were thinking about it?” Richie retorted with a smirk, if he still knew Eddie at all, he pretty much already had him on board.

_“Alright, yes, fine!”_ Eddie said. _“I was thinking about it.” _

“So you’ll do it, Eds?” Richie asked, honestly not sure, what he was expecting the next words out of Eddie’s mouth to be.

_“I’m going to need a health check about tropical diseases, but yes, you asshole. I’ll do it,”_ Eddie replied. Richie inexplicably felt like he’d just won a victory.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Content warning:** opening flashback contains the aftermath of homophobic violence, although nothing is too graphic. However, if you'd rather skip it for your own comfort, skip to the end of the italics.  
Aaaand I'm back. I've been on a trip with my journalism program since Monday, and since I knew I'd be pretty burned out by the time we got back, and didn't want you to wait too long, I waited with updating until now, even though this was basically finished on Sunday. The next chapter shouldn't be too far in the future. I hope you enjoy it.

_The school bathroom felt claustrophobic. Like the walls were literally pushing in on Richie. But at the same time, he’d felt too exhausted, too bone deep tired, when Eddie had dragged him in there. He hadn’t been able to argue. Eddie is muttering to himself, getting what he needed out of the first aid kit, that he was always carrying around. “Eddie, you don’t have to do this,” Richie protested, surprised by how weakly the words came out. His throat felt impossibly dry._

_“Shut up, you’re gonna get an infection, and you might go blind,” Eddie bit back. Richie wanted to make some kind of joke about how he was already practically blind with Bowers breaking his glasses, but nothing came out. He was aware Eddie was overreacting, even though Richie was bleeding, but he also knew how it looked. Eddie dragging him off to patch him up in the school bathroom, when Richie had refused to go to the school nurse. _Like Eddie was protecting the dirty little-

_“You know Bowers says that shit to anyone he can get away with, right?” Eddie asked, cutting off Richie’s stream of thought, and Richie realized he must have surprised him by not having a comeback. Eddie frowned. “It’s all bullshit, it doesn’t mean-“_

_Richie knew why Eddie said that. It wasn’t exactly anything new to either himself, Eddie or Bill. It had been flung in their faces their entire lives, along with countless other insults. Bill had all but shrugged it off, they were 15 now and he was no longer stammering, at least not all the time, and had joined the baseball team. Eddie seemingly just didn’t give a shit, no matter what names he was called, but something was gnawing at Richie’s insides. It got to him more. Where the insults hurled at Eddie just bounced off him, they crawled under Richie’s skin and settled there._

_“What if he is right though?” Richie cut him off, making Eddie freeze his movements. Richie’s pulse is deafening, and his throat felt tighter. Because maybe Bowers is right, you aren’t completely disinterested in girls, and spend too long staring at your best friend, if you’re not gay. That wasn’t how it worked. His voice sounded watery, when he spoke. “What if he’s got me all figured out? Would you still be here trying to patch me up, if I was a fucking-“_

_“Yes, fuckface, because you’d still be in risk of an eye infection!” Eddie snapped at him. Eddie looked pissed off, and Richie almost just wanted him to go, to leave Richie alone in this bathroom. But then Eddie took a resigned breath. “And you’re my best friend, of course I don’t care if you’re- If you’re gay.” _

_Richie wanted to believe him, so badly. But the same thing that was gnawing at his insides, telling him Bowers might be right, that Bowers was probably right, reminded him that he couldn’t. “Besides,” Eddie said with a nervous laugh, and it was so obvious that he was trying to fill the silence, which was usually Richie’s job. “You’re too busy fucking my mom, right?”_

_He started laughing, even through the wince of pain, despite himself. Eddie Spaghetti getting with the program, Richie never thought he’d see the day. Eddie smiled, a small smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes, before rummaging through his first aid kit._

* * *

It’s probably a mistake to agree to take the same flight as Eddie. Richie was aware of that. But then again, when Richie had booked his tickets, a month after Eddie agreeing to go with him to Hawaii, he’d still half expected Eddie to chicken out. Which he hadn’t, and now that they were headed to the airport, and the cancellation fee would be astronomical, Eddie wouldn’t. And well, Richie couldn’t exactly chicken out and just not go, it being Carrie’s wedding and all. Not that Richie had any reason to chicken out, the fact that he’d asked Eddie to be his fake boyfriend wasn’t anything to be worried about.

Eddie on planes was notoriously a nightmare. Not only was he scared of flying, but he also just had a hard time dealing with the recycled air, the airplane food, the small space, all of it. Richie knew it was all just leftover from having grown up with Sonia Kaspbrak as a mother, and that Eddie hadn’t exactly had the best conditions to break the habits with dealing with Myra. But it was still a lot to deal with, even for someone with more patience than Richie.

Richie, however, did want to at least try. And at the end of the day, he figured it was better to fly with Eddie, than unleashing Eddie at his most anxious on an unknowing stewardess. Besides maybe he could even make Eddie calm down, just a little.

“You’re all bouncy, can you just take a deep breath?” Richie asked. They were in the queue for their check in.

“Don’t tell me to relax!” Eddie said, not looking at him, but instead staring straight ahead. His eyes were practically boring two holes into the skull of the guy ahead of them, who was wearing a shirt that was even more obnoxious, than the ones Richie used to wear, when they were teenagers.

“I’m not telling you to relax,” Richie said, trying to muster up as much patience as he could. This was his own idea, and besides, he knew he would feel bad, if Eddie was sitting in a plane all alone, nervous beyond belief. He just really didn’t like thinking about that part, that knew that was what he was thinking.

“You’re telling me to take a deep breath, that’s basically telling me to relax, asshole!” Eddie snapped at him. Richie realized, he clearly had to change strategies, if he should have any hopes at all of getting Eddie on that plane without a breakdown.

“Look, Spaghetti man, I know you don’t like this. And if I could personally drive your ass to Hawaii, I would,” Richie said. Eddie gave him a look, that Richie couldn’t place, and it made a cord tighten inside him. Richie put a hand on Eddie’s arm, and he surprisingly didn’t flinch. “But there’s a shit ton of water in the way, so unfortunately you and me are going to have to get on this plane. Or you can back out on me, no judgment.”

“I’m not backing out. I promised you, I would go, so I’m going,” Eddie told him, his jaw set in a more resolute way. “I just really wish we didn’t have to go in this fucking deathtrap.”

“Aren’t you statistically more likely to die in a car accident, than to be involved in a plane crash?” Richie asked, remembering vaguely that he’d heard that statistic somewhere.

“That’s not what I meant. The recycled air means it’s basically a, ‘what disease do you want this week’ roulette,” Eddie said, his voice more hushed.

“Hope, I don’t get stuck with something that involves vomit then,” Richie said in a too innocent tone. “Carrie would probably hate me forever, if I coughed up blood during the wedding ceremony.”

“That’s disgusting,” Eddie informed him, but there was a small smile on his face, and his shoulders seemed maybe a little bit less stressed. Eddie was always stressed, but there was a definite scale, and this was less than before. So, Richie considered it a win. It had always felt like he was winning some sort of game, whenever he got Eddie to breathe a little easier, both before and after the point in sophomore year of college, where Eddie had decided to drop the inhaler for good.

“Yeah, exactly that’s why I plan to avoid it,” he fired back. The man in the obnoxious shirt ahead of him is up next in the queue. “But we can check if the airport gift shop has a “sorry, I vomited during your wedding” card just to be safe, once we’re done here.”

* * *

There’s a part of Richie, that’s entirely unsurprised by the fact that Eddie is clearly white knuckling the armrests on the plane, before they’ve even taken off. He’s fairly sure, there’s not much he can do to make him less nervous. Maybe talk, because then at least Eddie would be distracted. There’s no one in the third seat, the aisle seat, which is probably a blessing. Before Richie really knows what’s doing, he let his hand flop against the armrest, palm up. “Here,” he said.

“What?” Eddie asked, clearly confused.

“It’s not rocket science, Eds,” Richie started, his voice still kind of quiet. “You’re clearly terrified. You can hold my hand, if you want to.”

“I don’t want to hold your hand, Rich!” he retorted, and Richie immediately regretted even asking. This was an evening flight, he was probably just tired and full of shitty bad ideas. Why had he even thought, that would help Eddie? It seemed like the kind of stupid idea, he would have come up with, when he was 14 and jumping into the hammock in their hideout in Derry, just so his legs could tangle up with Eddie’s.

“Forget I said anything, Eds,” Richie grumbled.

There is a long moment, where neither of them said anything. The cabin crew walked through the cabin, and checked if all the overhead compartments were closed right, and there wasn’t any baggage blocking anything. They get in an argument with a woman with a southern accent closer to the rear end of the plane, because of course they do.

“But I guess, I am technically supposed to pretend to be your boyfriend for a week,” Eddie said, his voice low. Richie really should point out what that was, an obvious attempt to try and pretend it wasn’t because Eddie was scared. But it wasn’t like, he would get anything out of that besides a pissy Eddie, so he decided to keep his mouth shut.

“Well, that was the deal,” Richie replied in a too innocent tone, that Eddie could probably very easily see through. Eddie didn’t seem to pay him any mind, but he wasn’t looking at Richie either.

“So, I guess, practicing by holding your gross hand wouldn’t be a bad idea,” Eddie said, continuing as if Richie hadn’t said anything at all.

“Wow, handholding. Third base, the Eddie Spaghetti way,” Richie said unable to help himself. He expected Eddie to snap something back and go back to trying to crush the plane armrests in his hands. But instead he just scoffed with an eyeroll and placed his hand in Richie’s still open hand. Just on top of it.

His hand was warm, which really shouldn’t be a big surprise, considering the fact that Eddie was nervous, but it wasn’t sweaty. It was also shaking a little bit. Richie gave his hand a small squeeze, interlacing his fingers with Eddie’s, in a way he hoped was even a tiny bit reassuring. At least it got the fingers to stop feeling like they were shaking. “Look at the bright side, if you get poisoned on this plane by the air so do I, you finally get me to shut up,” Richie said.

“Shut up, they’re doing their security walk through,” Eddie whispered, but the small smile made another brief appearance. His attention was on the cabin crew, unlike half the passengers who had headphones in, or were asleep already. It was a night flight.

An hour later or so, Eddie’s stressed, and probably exhausted body got the better of him, and he fell asleep. He was still holding Richie’s hand, now hidden from view underneath Eddie’s jacket, which was lying over the armrest. Richie hadn’t even really realized, until he felt Eddie’s grip loosen a little. Part of him was tempted to keep it there until Eddie noticed, but another part of him, the more rational, realized it would be weird.

So, he slowly and carefully, just to make sure he wouldn’t wake Eddie up, slipped his hand out from underneath the jacket. Eddie made a small noise in the back of his throat, that could have just as well been any of the other passengers but didn’t wake up. Richie’s hand felt significantly warmer, the skin kind of tingling a little. But that had probably just been because his hand had been about to fall asleep. Richie dug his headphones out of his backpack, which had been lying under the seat, and settled in with a True Crime podcast next to the sleeping Eddie.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And we're back. Happy holidays, if you celebrate something this December. My apologies, that this took me a good long while, but I've been kind of burned out for a few months. Hopefully, the chapter is worth the wait.

Back home in Derry, it had probably been a toss up between the Tozier siblings, who liked having Eddie Kaspbrak around more. Carrie never hung out much with them or any of Richie’s friends, but she had always seemed to like Eddie. Mostly because he had just as fast of a mouth as the Toziers, and sometimes Carrie and Eddie would tag team to come up with as many insults and jokes about Richie as they could. Richie’s reasons for liking having him around back then were different, obviously.

But it wasn’t really something, he’d thought about in a while. In hindsight it was probably a significant oversight in his plan. The thought hadn’t really occurred to him, until he saw Carrie in the lobby of their resort with a grin on her face, and a “Kaspbrak!”

“Hey, Carrie!” Eddie greeted her, as Carrie crossed the lobby to meet them, stranding her soon to be husband David at the reception desk. Carrie’s dark curly hair kind of clung to her more than usual, clearly she had already been in the pool. Her jumpsuit was covered in a parrot print in various neon colors.

“Don’t I get a welcome committee?” Richie asked with a smile directed at his sister. She grinned.

“Of course, little one, but I haven’t seen Eddie here in two years, I’m allowed to be excited to see him,” Carrie said, giving both of them a hug, clapping Richie on the back. The nickname really didn’t make sense, since Richie was a year older than Carrie. But he’d long since given up that fight with her. “So, you’re the unlucky guy, huh?” she continued, directed at Eddie.

“Yeah, looks that way,” Eddie said with a faux deep sigh, bemoaning his sad fate of being Richie’s date, making Carrie laugh.

“Oh yeah, off you two go, this is a reminder why I keep you two separate,” Richie said. He knew that wasn’t the reason Carrie hadn’t seen Eddie in two years. The last time Carrie and Eddie had been in town, had been after Eddie and Myra’s first breakup, just a couple of weeks before Myra had decided to win Eddie back. Richie knew, because after the two of them got back together, Richie had started seeing Eddie less too. Not never, just less frequently.

“We better go get our room keys, I want to shower and get these plane germs off me,” Eddie said.

“Go ahead and say hi to David, Eddie. I just need to talk to Richard here for a moment,” Carrie said, and his sister directed a glare at him.

“Richard? Am I in trouble?” Richie asked, more than half joking. But Carrie’s tug on his arm made it abundantly clear, he was absolutely in trouble. Eddie took it as his cue to go up to the reception desk, while Carrie tugged him off to the side, thoroughly out of earshot of the reception desk.

“You’re a dumbass,” Carrie said between her teeth, seeming to resist the urge to full on yell at him. “You bring Eddie Kaspbrak as your fake boyfriend to my Hawaii wedding?!”

“Eddie and I are dating,” Richie said. “It kind of just happened. I don’t know what to tell you.”

“Little one,” Carrie retorted with her knowing look, that made it clear, she knew exactly what he was trying to pull. “You’re much more obvious, if you’re fucking someone. But luckily neither mom, dad or any of the other people here know that.”

“You said, I could bring whoever!” Richie argued, still not sure what the hell Carrie’s problem with Eddie was.

“Yes, but if you were going to fake it, I expected you to make like a Craigslist ad or find someone on a dating app, not Eddie fucking Kaspbrak,” Carrie said, still trying to keep her voice down.

“What is your problem with Eddie?” Richie asked, and crossed his arms.

“I have no problem with Eddie,” she fired back. “I think Eddie is fun, awesome and he is going to be a pain in Helen’s ass, and probably even irk Jeff, all of which I have zero problem with, trust me. But sweetie, just because mom and dad were completely blindsided by their son’s sudden gayness at age 18, doesn’t mean _I_ didn’t have eyes.”

“Fuck-“ he said quietly, as the reality of Carrie’s words sunk in. Carrie had known the entire time and never said anything. Carrie had watched Eddie hurl jokes at him, and watched the dumb smile on Richie’s face, that he’d always had to fight hard to wipe off, and just known without saying anything. “I wasn’t that obvious, was I?”

“If you knew what to look for, absolutely completely obvious. But considering all your friends, mom and dad, and clearly even Eddie missed it, I would say no,” Carrie said, and put a hand on his arm. “Look, you were just hung up on him for a long time, so I just don’t want you getting your feelings hurt.”

“It was a long time ago, sis,” Richie said. “Trust me, got a lot of things in and out of my system, since then.”

“Gross, didn’t need to hear that,” Carrie said with a face, and started to head towards the reception desk, Richie on her tail. Eddie was going through the various restrictions he had with the receptionist.

“Hi,” Eddie said. “David went to make a phone call to the scuba instructor, to see if he had time tomorrow for you two. You don’t have a problem with me being here, right Carrie?”

“No, Kaspbrak of course not,” Carrie said, sounding genuine. Probably because she was actually genuine. “Richie just didn’t tell me, it was you he was bringing. I just kind of assumed, he’d found some kind of twink online or something.”

“Well, I was surprised too,” Eddie said with a warm smile, and then looked up at Richie. Before he knew it, Eddie had an arm around him, pulling him a little bit closer. Maybe it was because of what Carrie had just said, but he instantly felt like his skin burnt were Eddie’s hand was placed over his shirt. It was definitely just because of what Carrie had said. “It just kind of happened one night. But I think, it’s a good thing.”

“Oh yeah, definitely a good thing,” Richie said, doing his best to quickly flash a grin at Eddie.

“I really hate to do this, Eddie. But I hope my brother has been a gentleman and told you about Hel-“ Carrie started.

“Helen and Jeffrey, your future in-laws?” Eddie cut her off. She gave him a nod. “Don’t worry, it’s come up. Sorry, you’re going to be stuck with that.”

“Thank you. David is worth it,” Carrie said with the exact kind of goopy smile, she always got, whenever David and her feelings for him came up in conversation. “Or at least, he better be. Gotta run,” she said with a laugh and headed out towards the pool area.

* * *

The hag, or more accurately probably her husband, really had spared no expense on the resort. According to Carrie, only about 150 of the 300 guests, they had invited had come here, but the place was relatively big, so even that, wasn’t a problem. Richie had dropped his suitcase and backpack off, and had left Eddie to his shower, before Richie had headed to the pool bar.

Eddie had complained that Richie should really wash off the germs from the plane, to which Richie had pointed out, he could just cannonball into the pool, if he wanted to. That had earned him a dark look from Eddie, but it had helped, when Richie had reminded him, that if Richie had to wait around for Eddie to finish showering, he would probably get airplane germs all over the sofa in the room or their shared bed.

Richie had sort of expected that the place would have just pushed two twinbeds together. Plenty of hotels he’d stayed in, had done something like that in the past. But maybe the place was too fancy, but there was really no way of getting out of sleeping in the same bed, unless one of them took the sofa. Eddie probably wouldn’t, and the sofa was too short to fit Richie without giving him back problems in his midtwenties. So, the current plan was to use the 50 decorative pillows in the room as a barrier. Problem solved.

Not that they needed to, obviously. But even though they’d shared a bed multiple times platonically before, it just seemed a little bit weird to Richie. Or maybe, he was just still freaked out about what Carrie had said. Maybe, he should have sacrificed the health of his back, but even if Richie wasn’t aware the sofa would probably give him back problems, Eddie would 100% be. So, wall of decorative pillows it would be. Richie ordered his Margarita and slid onto one of the bar stools. If Stan was here, he might have said Richie liked Margaritas more than your average Bachelorette party full of white women.

“Good afternoon, Richard,” he heard from behind him in a dismissive tone. Helen thought, it was polite to talk to people, she knew, but she couldn’t be fucked to sound like she was even remotely happy to see Richie here. Richie almost appreciated the honesty. Helen was dressed in a pale pink sundress covered in multicolored flowers and a giant straw hat. Her sunglasses were sliding down her nose.

“Helen, my love,” Richie retorted too loudly. He was nothing if not over the top, another thing Stan would probably say, if he’d agreed to be Richie’s fake boyfriend, rather than Eddie. If Eddie had been here, and not busy disinfecting their room, he would probably have talked shit at the hag too. “Of all the places in the world, I run into you here. What are the chances?”

Helen impressively enough ignored him, and flagged the bartender down to order her drink. Daydrinking must be something they had in common. He was about to make a joke about it, when Helen fixed him with a stare. “I don’t know, why you bothered coming here, if you must mock this, but I’d appreciate it if you tried to be civil for the sake of David,” she said.

“Well, David is not the only one getting married, my sister happens to be involved in it too,” Richie shot back. Carrie deserved better than this bullshit, and hopefully David would realize that, and make sure Carrie wouldn’t have to put up with Helen and Jeffrey’s pleasant company. “Takes two to tango, sweetheart.”

“I’m sure, you’d know, Richard,” Helen said frostily. The bartender handed Richie’s his Margarita, and Helen shot the bartender a dirty look, as if upset that Richie would actually get his drink before her. Richie resisted the urge to make a joke about gay men getting special treatment, and just took a long sip of his Margarita. Helen seemed annoyed at him for being within 10 feet of her, which was probably the biggest reason he stayed put on the barstool.

In college, when Richie had started getting more comfortable with himself, he’d almost done a complete 180 from high school. Where as he spent most of his teen years bragging about all the chicks he was screwing, he’d been borderline obnoxious about how gay he was for a year or two. Part of it was just who he was, another part of it was probably just a counter reaction to spending so long getting pushed around by Henry Bowers and his goons.

He didn’t do it as much anymore, because despite what his friends thought, he’d matured a little bit. But right now, he was slipping right back into it. But even if Carrie was just taking this as a vacation, he should probably cool it down a little bit. Even if he still wanted to annoy Helen as much as humanly possible. He put on his sweetest smile. “Well, would you look at the time, I should go see if my boyfriend has unpacked his things.”

“Do you really need to rub your lifestyle choices in our faces?” Helen asked in a low voice. Richie’s sweet smile might have bordered on a smirk.

“Well, the invite said plus one, my love,” he said, as he put the empty glass down, and headed off to see what Eddie was doing now.


End file.
